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Sichuan native Darfur bound

By Li Xiang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-16 07:38

Sergeant Ma Sijian was about 1,000 km from Shifang county, Sichuan province, when the earthquake struck on May 12. And he was still worried to death, though no one had gauged the actual magnitude of the disaster till then.

"I couldn't concentrate on anything because I was too worried about my family," he said.

He had more than enough reason for that, for Shifang is among the worst hit places in the Sichuan quake.

Ma Sijian

A heart-wrenching week passed without any news of his parents or five-month pregnant wife. On the seventh day, the 25-year-old heaved his greatest sigh of relief. News had reached him that his house had collapsed but his family was safe.

Ma was at a military base in Henan province then, undergoing a 13-month intensive training for his peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan. He will leave on that mission tonight.

His 172-member engineering unit will be deployed in South Darfur as part of the UN-African Union (AU) "hybrid" force.

The soldiers of the unit, recruited mainly from Jinan and Beijing military commands, will join the first group of peacekeepers China sent in November.

And it will make China the first non-African country to have deployed all its committed number of peacekeepers in the Darfur region.

Ma called his wife Tuesday because he was worried about his family. They "have taken shelter in a temporary house" but "my wife told me not to worry about her (or his parents), and do a good job in Sudan", he said.

"My wife is expecting in October," he said, trying to avoid blushing. "My only regret is that I won't be able to hug my baby then."

But then "as a soldier, I'm honored to take part in an international peacekeeping operation".

The Chinese peacekeepers will reach Nyala, capital of South Darfur, tomorrow. "Our arrival would mean China has fulfilled its promise to the UN on Darfur," Colonel Xu Hanfa, deputy head of the engineering unit, said.

The Chinese peacekeepers already in Darfur are engaged in a series of tasks, including building roads and bridges and digging wells. They have built a 250-m-long and 106-m-wide helipad at Nyala airport, too.

Their next key operation is setting up a super military camp for UN peacekeeping troops in Darfur.

The Chinese peacekeepers are part of the three-phase "Annan Plan" to restore peace in Darfur. The deployment of UN and AU peacekeeping forces was made possible after the Sudanese government endorsed the plan last June.

"The peacekeeping experience in Darfur will be unforgettable," said Ma, who wants to retire from the army after the mission and return to Shifang to help rebuild his home.